The Next Step - 網球

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The Next Step
15/03/2006:

Justine enters the quarterfinal stage of this year's Pacific Life Open on
Thursday against Gisela Dulko after winning over Ai Sugiyama 6-2 6-1. She
shares her thoughts about the 4th round match, a champions nutritional diet,
and gets whimsical to explain her preference for Belgian rather than American
chocolate. Justine also remains very modest about her results this season.


You're playing at a pretty high level in the last three matches?
"I'm playing good. Just very happy to be back here. It's great tournament.
It's good memories for me from two years ago. From the beginning of the
season, I just tried to enjoy my tennis. That is the only thing that is very
important for me, stay healthy and then enjoy being on the court. That's my
job, buts that my passion. The fact that I really enjoy it, that makes the
things different 'cause I'm very calm on the court and I just can say, "Okay,
that's what's happening right now. What can I do better?" I ask the good
questions to myself. So it's very good."


When you are playing this well, do you try to change things or improve
yourself?
"I always try to find what I can do better and how I can do it better.
Sometimes you miss. That's normal. That's tennis. That's life. You cannot do
always very good. No, I just think it's great how things happen for me from
the beginning of the season. I'm still concerned about a few problems with my
body, but everything should be fine. I'm very glad that I'm again in the
quarters."


What did you say to yourself after the 6-0, 6-0 victory the other day? What
can you do better?
"No, because, you know, every match is different. It's another day. You have
to start again. Today I think that Sugiyama was pretty dangerous for me. I
had a little bit of revenge. I lost last time at The Championships in 2003.
That's the kind of situation I like a lot. No, yesterday I played consistent,
but today I knew I had to be more consistent and more regular. That's what I
did. You just have to go step by step and forget about what's happened the
day before."


The other day you spoke about how you lost weight. In this country people pay
lots of money to lose weight. How did you do it?
"Just eating better. Actually I worked a lot on my nutrition. I think that's
very important. I understand a lot of things now. I think I can -- I take
care of myself much better than I did in the past. Then we worked a little
bit differently in the gym and on my running and everything. It's good. I
feel better because I move better on the court. I'm not as massive as I was
still last year. Just feeling good in my body, and that's very important to
play well."


When you talk about nutrition. Did you stop eating meat?
"I'm not going to give my secrets (smiling). I come from Belgium. I'm a big
fan of Belgian chocolate. I don't eat too much chocolate now. No, it's just
you have to be very regular. Now I understand a little bit more about the
nutrition before the match, during the match. It's very important 'cause in
the past I had many problems with that. Sometimes I was feeling tired because
I didn't eat that much, maybe too close or too far from the match. Now I have
a better routine, and that helps me a lot."

What about Sugar?
"Always keep a good level of sugar."


You used the word massive to describe your body frame last season.You've
never been too big. You've always been thin, muscular?
"My legs a little bit. I was pretty massive. I mean, more than I am right
now. Everybody's telling me that I'm very fit and that I changed in the
winter season. But, I think nutrition is probably the biggest thing that I
have changed. It's good. I'm very happy the way we work physically. No
regrets about the past. I mean, Pat gave me, he's a big part of all my
titles, but I was a bit tired, too. You have to go to the next step. Now I
have basis that I will probably never lose,and I just have to get fit to stay
a long time on the tour."


What you're saying is maybe you had too much muscle in your legs?
"No, I was very quick, but now I think I'm moving better than I did in the
past. I've always been quick, but, I mean, in Sydney I went to dropshots that
I never thought I could have gone to dropshots like that. I am feeling that
all the time on the ball, so that's very important. I never feel late. I'm
still feeling very powerful. It's good. I work a lot also on the recovery.
That's very important if you want to play for whole season, for many years. I
think it's very important."


You don't miss the chocolate?
"I still eat a lot of chocolate, but not here in the States. It's not as good
as mine. No, no, I'm big fan of chocolate. But especially when I'm tired, at
the end of the season, I can eat so much chocolate because it's the end and I
just want to be at home. Chocolate helps me to stay on the tour."

How many kilos or pounds did you lose, and in what period of time?
"I lost a little bit of weight, maybe -- I don't know. Now I lost much more
weight since the Australian Open because with my stomach problems after The
Open, I lost four kilos in a week. Probably lost two kilos generally from
what I had last year. That's a big difference I think, yeah."

Do you practice or just stay away from the courts on your break day during a
tournament?
"No, I will hit a little bit. Not for hours, but probably 45 minutes. Just
stay in good shape. I have to move. Even today, if I'm playing in the night,
I like to come in the morning and hit the ball, then come back again in the
afternoon. I just have to move. If not, I'm boring in my hotel rooms."


The results this season seem to say you're near invincible
"No, I would never say that. I hate to use these kind of terms. No, it's like
I said, I'm very lucky I'm back on the courts healthy. That's it. Now I can
play. It's my fourth tournament since the beginning of the season. I think
it's great for me that I can travel a lot now. I'm very happy about that.
That's my life right now."

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整篇訪問的重點都環繞在Henin變瘦的話題...
總覺得他還是適合這樣苗條的身段.....



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